In Gal 1:11–17, Paul defended the divine origin of his gospel by recounting when and how he received it from Christ. Along the way, he stated that “he went away into Arabia” (Gal 1:17) but not what he did while he was there. A parallel passage for Galatians 1:17 is Acts 9:10–25, but Luke only tells us a bit of what happened to Paul in Damascus and mentions nothing of Arabia. Here are some suggestions as to what kept Paul busy in Arabia during this time. ((Options 1 and 2 are summarized as the views of others by Douglas J. Moo, Galatians (BECNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 106–07, and Thomas R. Schreiner, Galatians (ZENCT; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 102–03. Schreiner and Moo both suggest the last option in this post for the reasons that are given below.)) Option 1: Once a zealot for Judaism, the newly converted Paul… [more]